A Decade of Fire
by Maraudercat
Summary: Exploring the relationship of James Potter and Lily Evans through a series of one-shots on the same date each year. Written for Addicted-To-Sugar-Quills' One Day challenge on HPFC. Rating for language and violence in later chapters.
1. 2nd May 1972

Disclaimer: If you recognize it it belongs to JKR

**Written for the One day challenge on HPFC**

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><p><strong>2nd May 1972<strong>

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><p>"How did you even-"<p>

"I don't know," Remus snapped at her, throwing Potter and Pettigrew a dirty look. Lily shook her head and helped Remus mop up the now-ruined Soothing Solution, his lip curling in a wry grimace as a splotch of viscous purple goop started eating through the sleeve of his already worn robe.

With a sigh, he said "Honestly, they might not have done anything. I am quite capable of causing Potions catastrophes on my own."

Lily bit back a comment about the immature trio of Gryffindor boys that Remus for some unknown reason chose to defend, even when they caused him trouble. After all, while Potter and Black were the troublemakers, the ringleaders, the only one of them that was half-decent at Potions was Pettigrew, and he wasn't quite as nasty. Though if Potter had put him up to it…

Professor Slughorn had decided to make them work with someone other than their usual partner for the lesson, which had dissolved into various levels of disaster across the dungeon as people used to their own routine after eight months butted heads with their new workmate. In the back corner Sev, her usual partner was chatting casually to Celeste Nielsen, a half-blood Slytherin girl who occasionally studied with them in the library. With her best friend in Gryffindor, Mary, in the Hospital Wing with a bad dose of flu, Lily had quickly grabbed the only one of the Gryffindor boys she could stand. Alice and Jenny, the other Gryffindor girls had also paired up, leaving one of the three remaining Gryffindor boys stuck working with a Slytherin.

And it was not going well, Lily decided, as she watched Black and snobbish Claudia Oberon glaring at one another through the cloud of brown smoke rising from their cauldron. Her and Remus's potion had, of course, been brewing fine. While Remus was more likely to sprout wings and fly than successfully brew anything more complicated than a boil cure, she had felt safe to leave him _watching_ the simmering cauldron with strict instructions to call her as soon as it began lightening from orange to yellow, while she hunted down some more ginger root.

They must have done something, she decided, glaring at Potter who was busy pulling faces at Black across the room while Pettigrew did all their work. Suddenly turning, he caught her eye and winked.

"Looks like even the great Evans can't prevent Lupin from melting the cauldron. Maybe next time you and I should work together?"

Lily turned her back on him with a huff. By her watch, they still had about half the lesson, and Professor Slughorn was settling an argument between Avery and Ulwent. With a longsuffering sigh she passed Remus the aloe vera leaves to slice while she scoured the cauldron and started again.

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><p>AN Due to time constraints preventing me getting this finished before the challenge due date, I'll probably replace this document with the entire story once it's completed, probably some time in November


	2. 2nd May 1973

Disclaimer: If you recognize it it belongs to JKR

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><p><strong>2nd May 1973<strong>

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><p>"Hey Evans, stop being such a bore and join us."<p>

Lily raised her eyes slowly from A History of Magic to glare at Potter. He and his gang had been sitting in the middle of the Common Room all night, playing boisterous games of exploding snap despite the nasty looks that stressed older students were shooting them. Somewhere in the 17th century witch trials they had been joined by Alice, Jennifer and even Mary, who were giggling together as they shuffled in an extra deck.

"Come on Lils," Mary grinned at her. "If we have even numbers, we can play pairs."

Lily hesitated, not wanting to interrupt anyone studying, but the room had emptied out since the last time she looked. Probably to the Library to get away from the explosions, she thought wryly, as she folded down the corner.

Black gave her a mock cheer as she dropped to the floor between him and Mary. Across the circle, Potter grinned at her while Pettigrew dealt out the partially singed and smoking deck.

"Pairs across the circle?" Jenny suggested, smiling at Black, who was opposite her.

"Fine by me," replied Pettigrew and Mary, grinning at their opposite.

Alice had proven to be the best at the game over their two years at Hogwarts, Remus only slightly less skilled.

Lily sighed as Potter waggled his eyebrows above his glasses. "Looks like it's you and me Evans."

Two hours later, Pettigrew and Jenny were laughing over singed eyebrows, Remus and Alice had started a personal rematch with a new deck, stemming from an explosion which had put both of their pairs out of the running, and Potter needled the sulking Black as he separated out the two decks that he and

Lily had eventually accumulated. "We make a good team, Evans," he informed her as he handed Pettigrew and Mary their cards back.

"I guess," she replied hesitantly. They _had_ made a good team, and for some reason that bothered her.


	3. 2nd May 1974

Disclaimer: If you recognize it it belongs to JKR

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><p><strong>2nd May 1974<strong>

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><p>Lily cheered with the rest as the Hufflepuff seeker held up his prize. Their upset victory over Slytherin practically sealed Gryffindor's championship, as well as proving that you didn't have to play dirty to win. Mulciber, the new third-year Slytherin chaser had been fouled on seven separate occasions for heavy hits on the small second-year Eloise Pilliwickle. She had responded magnificently, scoring six of the seven penalties, despite the booing from the Slytherin end of the stadium.<p>

The third-year Gryffindors slowly made their way back to the castle, laughing at the boys' antics. Potter had already started boasting about how the final game of the year would go, and how easily he would score against the new Ravenclaw keeper. In response Black had transfigured the path ahead into red velvet, and all three boys pretended to bow down to their hero, Remus waving a piece of spare parchment and begging for his autograph. Potter just laughed along and took the praise in his stride. He had made the team as a reserve last year, and had played the final game after Joseph Spinnett was caught in a potions explosion. He had scored eleven goals, and made five impressive tackles during the 310 point thrashing to win the cup. Ever since then, his attitude –a touch arrogant and prideful to begin with- had worsened to the point that Lily rarely spoke to him. Mary and Alice also tended to roll their eyes at his often unbearable antics, though Jenny, who had sported a crush on Black for months, still hung around with them from time to time.

Their dawdling pace saw them overtaken by the Slytherin Quidditch team as they reached the castle. Lily could see Sev and the other Slytherin boys trying to jolly up Mulciber, who glowered at them and stormed ahead, shoving Sev out of the way. Lily caught his eye, and bit her lip to stop herself from saying anything. Mulciber was a bully, though for some reason Sev refused to see it, and put up with the shoves and hexes and snide comments. Also, with Potter and Black nearby, she didn't want to draw attention to Sev, lest it start another fight.

Unfortunately Pettigrew had been watching, and directed their attention to the small pack of Slytherins diverging towards the dungeon.

"What's the matter Snivellus, lover's tiff?" Black drawled loudly enough to be heard across the great hall.

Sev responded predictably, drawing his wand in a smooth motion and throwing something at Black. Potter stepped forward and blocked it. Two seconds later Sev was wheezing through a tickling charm, made worse by a _Tarrantalegra_ added by Pettigrew, who looked delighted to contribute to their duel.

All four boys, and a mixed group of Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs who had been just ahead of them howled with laughter as Sev tried to catch his breath long enough to end the spell, and ended up overbalancing on the polished stone floor.

"That's enough!" Lily snapped at Potter, as she drew her wand to reverse the hex. Potter grinned infuriatingly and caught her wrist, preventing her from casting the spell.

"Come on Evans, I think the laughter is doing him a world of good. He should try it more often."

Behind him, Sev was going red in the face as he tried to regain his feet. Half-way up, Black hit him with a trip jinx, and Pettigrew renewed the tickling spell, while the onlookers continued to laugh.

"Tell you what Evans, come with me on the last Hogsmeade trip, and I'll let him up. Deal?"

Lily responded by wrenching her wrist free, and throwing a _Finite Incantatem_ over Potter's shoulder.

Sev stumbled back to his feet, glared at the crowd for a second, then fled after the rest of the Slytherin pack.

Turning back to Potter, Lily spat at him, "I would never go to Hogsmeade with such a conceited, bullying prat as you."

Nose in the air, she swept past him up the stairs with Mary and Alice, leaving a silent hush in the entrance hall behind them.


	4. 2nd May 1975

Disclaimer: If you recognize it it belongs to JKR

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><p><strong>2nd May 1975<strong>

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><p>"-and twelve inches on the practical uses of switching spells by Tuesday."<p>

Lily finished jotting the homework down in her diary and collected her quills, letting the boys pile out of the door ahead of her. They were making plans for the weekend, going out exploring under the full moon tomorrow judging by the whispered conversation behind her head as Potter and Black had transfigured mice into ever more flamboyant species of parrots. She hoped they didn't do anything too stupid.

Mary was waiting in the corridor, flicking boredly through a Phantom comic. Her cousin owned a comic book shop where she worked summers, and she always brought a stash of her favourites to Hogwarts. They walked back up to the tower together, where they found a dejected looking Remus levitating a _Daily Prophet _over the fire, dangling just above the licking flames until it began smoking.

"Nothing in the news then?"

Remus jerked in surprise and lost his hold on the spell as Mary plonked onto his arm rest.

He grimaced, and turned back to watch the paper burning merrily. "No, not really."

Lily frowned as she watched the figures in the front page photo silently playing out, a grieving mother screaming at the ministry workers who were hauling her away from the house, and the mauled bodies of her husband and son. It had been news about a month ago, werewolf attack, two dead, and the ten-year-old daughter abducted. She too had turned up dead a week later, her throat torn out. The paper had said she had been assaulted, and no-one had any difficulty filling in the gaps. It was the fourth attack in the last eighteen months attributed to werewolves as a plural. The mother had committed suicide yesterday, taking poison to be with her family again. The _Prophet_ was blaming the Ministry for not doing enough, and the letters were demanding that all werewolves should be rounded up and imprisoned or destroyed.

Lily wasn't sure how she felt about this, about the slow sweep of mysterious deaths and disappearances that were becoming increasingly common in the news. When she had first come to Hogwarts, there had been whispers of a dark gathering, wizards hidden behind masks, a secret new order bent on purifying the world. In the three and a half years since then, these whispers had gathered force. Some of the older students, mostly from Slytherin were beginning to voice the ideals of the so-called Lord Voldemort, while rumours and wild speculation had become hushed conversation laced with fear and mistrust.

The dark mood was broken by the remaining three Gryffindor boys barrelling down the stairs, Black in the lead, waving something above Peter's head, before tossing it to Potter. Peter was red-faced as he tackled Potter, who dodged around him, starting a chase amongst the armchairs, Potter and Black passing the rolled up parchment-bound with a pink ribbon, no less-between them. At one stage, Potter passed close to Remus, and Lily swore she saw the roll pass hands. Five minutes later, Peter had cornered Potter, who was laughing too hard to draw his wand, demanding it back, only to notice that Remus was levitating it in lazy loops over his head.

Even Lily couldn't help but laugh as Peter tried to jump and catch his letter, only to have it continually leap out of his reach. Finally with a disgusted glare, he summoned it, and Remus let him have it, chuckling with the rest as Peter stormed back up the steps, clutching it tight to his chest.

Potter and Black collapsed into the armchairs, panting lightly after the madcap chase. Remus had gone back to staring at the fire, hardly necessary in the Spring evening, and Lily followed his gaze back to the front-page photo, privately wondering if he had known the victims. Potter too seemed to notice cause of the solemn silence, and pointed his wand at the remaining newspaper.

"Abeonemus"

The paper twisted into a roll and sprouted branches which in turn erupted leaves. Black yawned, and lazily gestured too. "Rutileo"

The leaves turned bright red and twisted into tufts, like a lion's mane. Remus, smiling now, added little feet at the bottom, wearing tap dancing shoes, and the odd little tree danced out of the fireplace.

Lily found herself smiling too, joining with Mary to give it little gold bells to jingle in time with its dance. It was impossible to dwell on the darkness when it was turned into such light fun as this. Across the room, Potter caught her eye and gave her one of his rare sincere smiles, instead of his usual cocky grin. She smiled back, glad that the usually infuriating pair were for once making her feel better.


	5. 2nd May 1976

Disclaimer: If you recognize it it belongs to JKR

The last five chapters should be done over the next few days

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><p><strong>2nd May 1976<strong>

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><p>When Lily first heard the ferocious argument echoing down the staircase of the boy's dormitory, she had angrily shoved her books aside, and marched up the stairs, wand drawn, ready to hex the living daylights out of whoever was disturbing her-and the rest of the common room's- study. As she started up the stairs, she was able to identify the snarling voices as Potter and Black, though she couldn't catch individual words. Then, furthering her surprise, another voice cut over the top, resonating with fear, frustration and a note of authority that she had never heard in it before. She could clearly hear Peter's words as he ordered Potter and Black to shut up, grow up, and, to Black, man up.<p>

The door opened with a crash, and Lily dodged aside as Black swept past the stairs, his normally perfectly groomed hair a mess, blood flowing from his nose and split lip. He marched across the common room, ignoring the whispers and the outraged yelp as he tramped straight over a second-year's finished essay left on the floor, and clambered out the portrait hole.

A scrabbling from the top of the stairs redirected her attention to the open doorway, where a furious Potter had grabbed Peter by the arm, and was hissing angrily "-not going after him? That's what he wants, and he thinks if he sulks enough, we'll all forgive him."

Rather than mumble a meek reply, as was the norm, Peter wrenched free and said, "Actually I was going to visit the Hospital Wing. Let Sirius sulk, it's his fault whether he likes it or not."

With a soft "Oh," Potter let him go, and Peter marched past with a brief nod, hauling his book bag along behind him.

Potter too seemed to notice Lily standing on the stairs, though for once, didn't drop into his cocksure Quidditch star pose and start messing his hair. Instead, he snapped "What are you looking at?" before heading back into his dorm. The morning sunlight angling through the windows highlighted the bruise on his jaw as he turned.

Lily wavered between calling him back to remonstrate him for disrupting her study, and for his arrogant dismissal, and letting him be to recover from what appeared to be a fist fight with his supposed best friend. She also wondered where Remus was, as he usually acted as mediator for their little group. With a sinking feeling, she realised that the moon had been full last night. Remus had told her of his lycanthropy after he had missed a prefect meeting and rounds in October, and Peter had said he was going to the hospital wing to visit….

Clearly something had happened last night, something involving Black and Remus, and she was going to bloody well find out what. She knocked on the door, frowned when there was no answer, and knocked again. "Potter, I know you're in there, open the door."

There was a clatter, and a muffled voice called back, "Go away Evans, you don't know anything."

Frowning, and dropping her voice so that it wouldn't be heard down the staircase, she asked, "Is Remus alright? What did you three do to him?"

Something shattered on the other side of the door. She waited, five seconds, ten. Footsteps, and the door banged open. Potter's tousled head glared out at her and said, "What do you care, it's none of your business."

She crossed her arms stubbornly, and informed him, "Remus is my friend too, and my fellow prefect. What. Did. You. Do."

To her surprise, Potter's face dropped, and he muttered "Why don't you go ask Black, he's the idiot that-" he paused, absently rubbing his bruised jaw. "Or," he continued, "you could go ask your little Death Eater friend, it's his fault too. If I hadn't hauled his greasy carcass out from under the Willow-"

He frowned, shook his head, and said, "Or you could go ask Lupin. He's in the hospital wing, and since you know what he…well he might listen to you. Merlin knows he's not listening to me, and he's sure as hell not talking to Black. Peter's trying, but, well, Peter."

With another shake of his head, he shut the door in her face, leaving her more confused than before. She considered hexing it open, but the look of exhausted desperation on his face when he mentioned Remus made her reconsider. Instead, she gathered her books from the common room, ignoring the curious questions, and made her way to the Hospital Wing.


	6. 2nd May 1977

Disclaimer: If you recognize it it belongs to JKR

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><p><strong>2nd May 1977<strong>

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><p>The final Hogsmeade visit of the year dawned a glorious spring day. Sunshine flitted through numerous gaps in the light clouds, and many students forwent cloaks and jerseys for the walk to the village. Lily and Alice had even persuaded Mary to put down her Charms books and come along for a morning free of study. Lily had been worried about her best friend of late. Mary had never been the most scholarly of the group, a fact which she hadn't seemed to care much about until this year. After her next eldest brother's graduation however, her parents had turned their academic expectations onto their only remaining child still studying.<p>

Lily had met John and Elaine McDonald several times over the years, and had stayed with them for a week during the summer before last. John was an English Professor at Durham University, while Elaine was an anaesthetist for several hospitals. Both expected great things of their children, and Mary's three older brothers all had made their way towards acceptable careers in the muggle world. Mary's magic had come as a huge shock to the family, and Lily privately felt that they didn't deal with it particularly well. Several times, she had seen letters from Elaine suggesting to Mary that she would do ever so much better in a normal career at a normal school. In response, Mary had threatened increasingly offensive career choices, including actress, underwear model, and Quidditch star (the fact that she didn't even play apparently didn't occur to her outraged mother).

Nevertheless, two weeks after Jimmy McDonald started work as a junior partner in a stockbrokers firm, Mary had started taking an interest in her grades. With only four OWLs, she was now determined to make them four Outstanding NEWTs.

Which apparently meant studying until all hours of the morning, panicked conversations with Lily about Charms and Potions, Transfiguration with Jenny, and Herbology with Alice, and three worried dorm-mates. But now they had finally pried her away from her books, themselves taking a break from the rigorous study schedule for the end of year exams two months away. As they walked, Lily could practically feel the sunshine soaking into her skin. The three girls laughed together as they made their way to the Three Broomsticks. It was hard to be worried about anything while drinking butterbeer surrounded by friends and sunshine.

The three were debating whether or not to have a second round, when the explosions and screams started. Wands drawn, the trio raced past curious customers and younger children out into the central square of the village. Flitting Flares, the colourful clothing shop was billowing flames from its shattered windows. The owner, Jancis Sutton, a cheerful middle aged witch whom had given Lily and Mary much useful advice for muggleborns in wizarding society was keeled over at the feet of several masked figures. Lily thought for a second that she was dead, but one of the masked figures pointed a wand at the sooty figure, and Jancis began screaming again, while those in masks laughed.

A second explosion further down the street attracted their attention. Two houses were burning now too, though Lily saw no sign of the residents. A small group appeared to be stopping passers-by from getting too close to the raging infernos, while several more had wands trained on the buildings, presumably trying to magically put out the flames. Then in a horrifying instant, Lily saw the clear outline of a woman carrying a young child, staggering out of the burning door, her hair and robes alight. She expected the men to run forwards and help her, put out the flames and carry the child to safety. Instead the nearest man cast a lazy spell in her direction, and she stopped suddenly as if hitting an invisible wall. Trapped in the burning doorway, the woman screamed even as she threw her body over her child. The doorway collapsed on top of them, and the men standing guard turned away, their work done.

Behind her, Lily heard a gasp, and turned to see the masked figures from outside Flares heading in their direction. Or more precisely the direction of the thirty-odd students ranging from cowering 3rd years to the head boy, Marius Dingle, who were gathered outside the Three Broomsticks, watching in horror. The figures stopped in the middle of the square. One of them pointed at Marius, apparently noticing the badge on his chest. He called out in a deep voice, "You, Head Boy." Marius swallowed, but stepped forward, trembling. He was a bookish Ravenclaw, who Lily had discovered during a prefect meeting that had gotten out of hand, fainted at the sight of blood. "What do you want?"

The tremor in his voice gave away his fear. Lily could practically feel the masked man smile. "I'll make you a deal, Ravenclaw. Give us all the Mudbloods in the group and the rest of you can go back to your school unharmed."

There was a moment of horrified silence, before Mary, wearing her favourite, and clearly muggle, denim jacket stepped forward and told him to go fuck himself. He responded by drawing his wand in a diagonal gesture, snarling a spell Lily had never heard before. Mary had barely raised her wand-tip to block when her chest ripped open in a spray of blood.

As Mary fell back into her arms, Lily barely registered her surroundings; to her left, Marius was on the ground, the students nearby panicking, screaming, trying to get away. Dimly she saw two Slytherin girls grabbing a fourth-year Gryffindor muggleborn and shoving him towards the attackers. Behind her Alice was trying to stop Mulciber doing the same to a tiny Hufflepuff girl. Then, through the chaos, she saw Potter charge around the corner, the other three close behind. She could hear him yelling instructions to prefects, Quidditch players, older students, to get the younger ones out of the way. He and Black and Remus were duelling the masked men now, aided by Aloysius McKinnon, the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain, and Alton Jones, the Gryffindor keeper. Peter seemed to be leading a group of the youngest students not back down the road to the school past the burning houses, but towards Honeydukes for some reason.

A hand plucked her shoulder, and Lily found little Ellie Pilliwickle trying to pull her up. She was saying something about bleeding, and Lily realised she was asking if she was hurt. She suddenly noticed the blood seeping through her shirt from Mary's body, cradled in her lap. Her best friend's eyes stared sightlessly into her face, reminding her that she was a Prefect, and it was her duty to help stop anyone else from dying.

Placing her best friend's body gently under a nearby bench, Lily joined Alice and Jenny and the others, tears streaming down her face, to hold off the Death Eaters until help arrived.


	7. 2nd May 1978

Disclaimer: If you recognize it it belongs to JKR

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><p><strong>2nd May 1978<strong>

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><p>"Ok, settle down."<p>

The room slowly quietened as the prefects turned their attention to Lily and James. In the far corner Fiona Delaney and Abigail Parkinson continued chatting until Lily cleared her throat pointedly.

The meeting settled down to the usual routine of taking reports and complaints from the twenty-three school prefects. Lily and occasionally James tried to mollify the complainers as best as possible, while preventing further arguments springing up from their answers.

Lily remembered vividly a meeting last year where Ewan MacDougal, from her year in Hufflepuff had picked a fight with Randall Avery and Carrick Ryan, the 6th and 7th year Slytherins about several nasty incidents in the corridor that had ended with MacDougal breaking Ryan's nose.

The closest they had come this year was during the first meeting on the train, where they had to deal with the outraged Jacob Bones, MacDougal, and Avery upon discovering that James Potter had been named head boy. While Lily's appointment only received a few mutterings from the Slytherin group, the thought of the school's worst troublemaker (or at least equal worst) being selected over the other prefects was simply preposterous.

At first, Lily had privately agreed with them. She had known that Remus wouldn't get the badge-he was just too passive. Randall Avery was part of the gang of Slytherins that had been trouble since her third year, and MacDougal had a short temper. Jacob Bones had seemed the obvious choice to Lily, even last year. Granted, beyond prefect and second highest marks in her year, he contributed little to the school, not being involved in any extracurricular groups. But that had never been a specific requirement of Head Boy.

On the contrary, Remus had seemed delighted at his friend's appointment. James, despite his many faults, had always played 'big brother' to their little group, helping Remus cope with his insecurities, defending Peter, and pulling Black into line when he stepped too far over it. He had come prepared with an annotated copy of _Prefects Who Gained Power_, listing twelve cases of non-prefects being named as Head Boy or Girl since 1347 when the prefect system had started. Jacob had tried to argue that most of these were highly unusual situations, such as the death of any possible candidates, or political arrangements. Remus replied by highlighting four cases, where the new head boy, or girl in 1776, had been named for some display of leadership in their previous years. He didn't have to add_ like James did last year when the Death Eaters attacked Hogsmeade while Jacob Bones sat safe and sound back at Hogwarts studying_.

The biggest upset of the most recent fortnight, however, seemed to be a series of scuffles prior to the Hufflepuff-Slytherin game which had resulted in two third-years in the hospital wing and four detentions. James was demurring to Lindy Yarrow's request to up the number of patrols in the lead-up to the last game of the year, though Gryffindor and Ravenclaw tended to be a little less aggressive in their rivalry.

Over Lindy's head, James caught her watching and rolled his eyes at the imperious demeanour of the Hufflepuff 7th year. Lily was tempted to stick her tongue out in reply, but remembered that the rest of the room were watching.

Over the course of the year she had watched James go from strength to strength in his new leadership role. Quidditch captain for the last two years, he had somehow balanced the additional workload while retaining good to excellent marks in his classes. He was supportive of the younger students, authoritative to the dissenters, and, best of all, had dropped his arrogant attitude in favour of a helpful, eager demeanour.

When he had asked Lily out before the first Hogsmeade weekend, for the 216th time, or so Black reported, she realised it was the first time that year. It had been accompanied by none of his usual showcasing; no conjured flocks of doves swarming her at breakfast, no transfiguring her books into flowers, not even a sign of puffing his chest out and strutting. He had simply sat down next to her at breakfast and asked calmly and pleasantly if she fancied a walk with him, alone.

They had been dating ever since, to the surprise of many. Snape, in particular, had broken nearly a year-long silence with her to express his vehement disgust, which Lily pointedly ignored. James no longer went around hexing people to prove his manliness. He didn't deliberately pick fights with Snape or his Slytherins, though he had answered fast enough when they picked one with him. In fact, he seemed to finally be living up to his potential.

Once they had taken names for extra patrols were taken, and Lily reminded the fifth-years what was and wasn't considered a disruption to study with exams coming up, they cleared the room, and walked back to the tower together, Remus keeping the other Gryffindor prefects occupied so they could talk.

"So," James said cheerfully, throwing his arm around her shoulders, "last Hogsmeade weekend of our school years. Fancy a butterbeer together?"

She rested her head on his shoulder and said, "That would be lovely James."


	8. 2nd May 1979

Disclaimer: If you recognize it it belongs to JKR

This Chapter was also for the Random Oneshot Challenge on HPFC, where I was given James /Lily as the pairing, and decided to combine the two. Prompts were **crow**, **company**, and **"I forgot my pants."**

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><p><strong>2nd May 1979<strong>

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><p>"Whazzat?"<p>

Lily blinked blearily at the figure crouched over her in the pre-dawn light. Rubbing sleep from her eyes, she looked up into James's gently smiling face as he bent to kiss her cheek.

"Sorry love," he whispered as he straightened and fixed his cloak, "didn't mean to wake you. I'll see you in two weeks."

He slipped out the door, and Lily counted his footfalls on the creaking stairs. With a groan, she rolled over, clamping down on any worry for her fiancé of less than a month. James was a good man, a great wizard. He was more than capable of taking care of himself during his first Auror training mission.

She must have dozed off again, as she awakened to blinding sunlight and the chiming of her grandfather's old clock in the hall. It had been a gift at their engagement party, a bittersweet one since her beloved Gramp Joe had suffered a heart attack three days later. James had held her at the funeral as she cried, while shielding her from the painful remarks from Pet and her blustering whale of a husband. His solid company amongst her muggle family and friends was a steadfast comfort that she couldn't have done without.

Counting the clock's chimes, Lily realised it was eleven, and forced herself up out of bed. Normally she didn't sleep so late, but James had spent the night tossing and turning, occasionally muttering to himself, and once sitting bolt upright saying "I forgot my pants." He would never admit to her or anyone else that he was nervous about his first training mission, and she had smoothed his tousled hair of his forehead and wrapped her arms around him until he slipped back into slumber.

She creaked her way down the staircase to the kitchen, deciding to make that her project for the day. James had bought the ramshackle cottage from a friend of his mother's, and the pair had spent the last two months slowly repairing and renovating to their satisfaction. Lily, working normal hours as an assistant potion brewer for Elwick Thickney, an old friend of Sluggy's, had more time to spend on these renovations than James, whose Auror training kept him busy at all hours. On top of that was the work they did for Dumbledore and his new group the Order of the Phoenix, where Lily helped Dorcas Meadows stockpile all sorts of useful potions for their operations, and occasionally assist at the site of an attack. So far they had been involved in little dangerous, though You-Know-Who and his band were becoming more brazen in their attacks.

Only last week a young family had suffered brutally. The wife, in her late twenties from an old pureblood family, had been forced to watch as her muggle husband, under the Imperius curse, first beat their two children to death, then turn on her, before they slaughtered him. They had left her chained to the wall of her house, bruised, bloodied, and mentally scarred beyond help. Lily and Alice had wrapped her in a blanket and fed her calming draughts while she sobbed for hours, before collapsing into a potion induced sleep. She had gone the next day to a friend of Dumbledore's named Perenelle, who apparently had had a lot of experience dealing with traumatised women.

As she fixed herself tea and toast, Lily watched the sleepy village through the window. Godric's Hollow was as quiet a place as she had ever been. A young family walked past, their children laughing and jumping in the small puddles that dotted the path; Mrs Williams' garden full of daffodils and tulips in neat orderly rows that even Petunia would approve of; sweet old Bathilda shooing off a pair of crows on her way to the tiny muggle library. All the fear and destruction in the world, or in the wizarding world at least, couldn't stop this place being beautiful. It was like James always said, everything has its own beauty, and life is about enjoying the small things that make it worth living. Lily found herself suddenly, painfully missing him. For so long she had argued with him, hated him, wished he would leave her alone, and now she couldn't live without him.

Shaking her head, she reminded herself sternly that it was only two weeks. Fourteen little days, and every day she would fix one more small part of their home, and challenge him to find every one when he returned. With a smile, she turned her wand to the creaking stairs and began charming.


	9. 2nd May 1980

Disclaimer: If you recognize it it belongs to JKR

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><p><strong> May 2nd <strong>**1980**

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><p>Lily sighed as James wrapped a hand around her swollen middle. He was talking softly-to the baby, not her-about Quidditch of course.<p>

"You're going to be a fine strong Chaser like your dad, I can feel it. We'll have you on a toy broom by one, and by five we'll start passing drills and dives. By the time you start Hogwarts you'll be a star."

"And what if he doesn't like Quidditch?"

Lily laughed at the look of puzzled outrage on her husband's face as she groped for a chair. Quidditch star or not, he was starting to put a strain on her back.

"Well, then he'll be a top student. Outstanding at Charms and Potions, just like Mum. School prefect, Head Boy. Gryffindor of course. Why he'll grow up to be Minister of Magic!"

Laughing at his antics, Lily couldn't help but caress her stomach where her son, _her son!_ was growing. He would be wonderful, no matter what, she decided.

They both jumped as a ghostly dog bounded in through the wall and cried in Remus's voice, "Backup! I need help at HQ!"

Lily and James looked at one another, and Lily, hating herself for putting them in this situation, said "Go. I'll send a reply."

James swallowed whatever comment he had been about to make and dashed out the door past the apparition wards. Lily didn't wait for the crack of his disappearance before she summoned her patronus to reply. And gasped at the ghostly form that escaped her wand.

Since they had first learned the Patronus Charm in 7th year, Lily had always produced a swan. It stemmed from a memory of her family by the water in the park feeding the birds, before she and Pet had fallen out. Before Hogwarts. The pearlescent doe that tried to butt her arm was a far cry from her graceful bird. She had been thinking about James, she realised, as she cast it. She had seen his stag patronus a number of times, and likewise his animagus form. Somehow that had become a part of her in the weeks since she had last cast the spell. Since she had discovered her pregnancy.

The patronus butted her intangibly one more time before fading out. This reminded her that she hadn't sent the message and re-summoned it, focusing again on her old family memory. The doe reappeared, pranced about the kitchen once as if to say I'm here and I'm staying. Lily charmed it with her message, probably irrelevant now since James would surely have arrived, and sent it away.

Dumbledore had discovered the ability for patronuses to carry messages only a few years back, though it required a great deal of skill and focus. Only about half the Order could do it, including Lily and Remus. She had been trying to teach James, but his frustration at having something not work straight away had made it difficult. Lily's own frustration, at herself and James for getting her into this situation, meant that they had given up trying to teach him.

How on earth had she gotten pregnant in the middle of a war? How stupid was she? Lily's main contribution to the Order was her potions skills. She had long surpassed Dorcas, whose work as an Unspeakable required little brewing, and regularly churned out Polyjuice Potions, Silencing Draughts, Veritaserum, and all manner of healing potions and ointments. Now she couldn't even do that, since the fumes posed a risk to her unborn baby.

She had been forced to give up her job-not that they needed the money with James's family fortune- but it hurt that she was unable to provide her share. Her only consolation was Alice, who was suffering the same way. Eighteen months into her Auror apprenticeship, she had been forced to defer it after she fell pregnant. Her husband Frank was often away, both with Order work and as a fully qualified Auror. She too had confided about feeling useless. In the end, Dumbledore had called them to a private meeting in his office at Hogwarts and told them that they had the most important job of all.

Lily had been frustrated at first that he wouldn't explain everything, but she and Alice both agreed to trust him. All he had told them was that their children were of the utmost importance in the fight against You-know-who, and that they had to do everything possible to protect them. Like they would have done any less.

A loud CRACK outside signalled James's return. He stopped in the doorway, a look of terrible sadness on his face. "Dorcas is dead."

Lily rose and heaved herself across to him, where they held each other and cried while he told her what had happened. She wrapped a hand protectively around her stomach where it was covered by one of his hands. As he repeated Peter's story of the attack, she swore to herself that no matter what, no-one was ever going to harm her baby.


	10. 2nd May 1981

Disclaimer: If you recognize it it belongs to JKR

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><p><strong>May 2nd 1981<strong>

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><p>"Adda, adda!"<p>

Lily could see Alice laughing as little Neville caught hold of Frank's hair and gave it a sharp tug. "He loves his Dadda," she told him primly when he gave her a mock glare.

A chorus of chuckles followed this as Neville relinquished his hold on Frank's hair in favour of his cloak pin. Finally Alice took pity on him and reclaimed her son, carrying him over to the table where Lily had Harry perched on her lap. He was looking around the room, his bright green eyes full of curiosity, as the Order members settled in to their routines. This was the third time they had had to set up a headquarters, and by now everyone knew the necessary charms and hexes. Following the death of their previous secret-keeper, Edgar Bones a month ago, they had been forced to move to a new location as the Fidelius protection was too weakly spread. Professor Dumbledore had volunteered himself as the new secret-keeper, but James had put his foot down, taking the burden himself. After all, it was his old house they were using.

James's parents had died nearly two years prior in an earthquake in New Zealand. After months of persuasion he had finally convinced them to get out of Britain and see the world, keeping them well out of reach of any Death Eaters. The cruel irony that they should be killed while on holiday had driven James to nearly work himself to death at his Auror training.

That too hadn't lasted. Unlike Frank, who had finished his training before they finished school, James had found the trainees hours on top of the Order workload to be too much. Forced to choose, James had handed his resignation to the MLE without a second thought, or so he said, though Lily could sometimes see the wistful look in his eyes as he watched the Longbottoms. Alice had returned to her training part-time, leaving Neville in the care of Frank's imperious mother when they were both working, an option that Lily and James didn't have.

Her parents had both passed in the last year, her father to lung cancer from years of smoking, her mother to grief and an untreated chest infection that turned into pneumonia. The contrast of these natural deaths against the war they had been fighting for the last few years made them seem all the more painful. She had briefly seen her sister at her mother's funeral, though Pet had refused to speak to her more than was necessary and her husband not at all. Their son was left sleeping restlessly in a carrier for the service, a great pink lump that looked like his father except for Pet's fair hair.

A large hand appeared over her shoulder dangling a soft gold ball on string in front of Harry's face. As he giggled and batted gleefully at it, Lily glanced up into Remus's smiling face.

"Better watch out Prongs, I think this one's going to be a seeker."

Sirius, watching from the corner where he was setting wards pointed to Harry, his chubby fist clasped around the toy. They all laughed as Remus pretended to try and wrestle it free. Wiping his forehead theatrically on his tattered sleeve he informed them, "I give up, he's too strong. The mighty Gryffindor warrior can keep his spoils."

James laughed as he joined them, followed by Peter and Emmeline Vance who were discussing, of all things, cleaning potions. Lily relinquished her son into his father's arms and watched with a smile as James tickled him softly to make him let go of the toy. Waving the ball again, he said "Come on Harry, catch the snitch. You can do it, catch it!"

Peter and Remus started cheering him on as Harry, with a small frown of concentration, grabbed at it. After several misses, he finally caught it again, held it up delightedly as he had obviously seen James do, and announced "Sitch!"

All of the boys fell about laughing at the bemused look on James's face as he listened to his son repeating his first word. "Sitch, ga ha sitch."

Lily pursed her lips, trying desperately not to giggle as James turned to her and said, "I thought they were supposed to start with Mama and Dada?"

"I blame you," she replied as sternly as she could manage, wagging her finger accusingly, before breaking down into laughter too.

Eventually Elphias cleared his throat and reminded them that they had to finish the protective spells by supper, and the group drifted apart, leaving Lily and Alice alone with the babies. They kept a close eye on the pair as they crawled about the floor, communicating in some unintelligible language to one another. Little Neville looked as much like Alice as Harry did James, except for the eyes. Harry had her pure green eyes, while Neville had Frank's soft brown. Harry had also inherited James's thick messy black hair, which resisted all efforts to tame it, much to Lily's frustration. In contrast, Neville had a thin coating of fine blonde hair that could have come from either parent which sat neatly over his round face.

Sitting at the table with Alice, Lily wished that her other school friends could be there too. Jenny had moved to America eighteen months ago, though she kept in touch with the occasional letter. Her last update had her five months pregnant, though she wasn't sure if she was ready to marry the father yet, and working at Mossetauler's Academy for Young Witches. Lily gave a brief silent toast to her other school friend, Mary, dead now four years to the day. She had been one of the first casualties in this terrible war, a war which they seemed to be slowly losing. Catching Alice's eye, she guessed her old friend was thinking something similar.

They both turned at the sound of footsteps and found Albus Dumbledore leaning on the doorframe, watching fondly the two boys crawling around their feet. His face sobered as he looked up at them, and his voice carried a note of sorrow as he told them, "I need to speak with you and your husbands immediately. It concerns your sons."


End file.
